When you look down at a well-worn stretch of singletrack, it’s easy to assume it was always there. But behind every banked turn, clear corridor, and local park trail is someone who loved that land or that park, saw the potential in it, and made the trail happen. For Jerry Porter, that passion for local dirt helped shape the outdoor recreation landscape in Menomonie and provided a foundation for CORBA’s long-term financial stability.
Jerry’s connection to bikes started early on BMX handlebars, exploring open fields and woods near where he grew up. Like many others in cities with expanding populations, he is one of the people who remember the old open spaces. Who can say, “I used to ride bikes over there,” while pointing to a space that is now a shopping center, green spaces gobbled up by parking lots and apartment complexes. This is just one reason Jerry knows organizations like CORBA matter so much for local recreation areas. Trails don’t build themselves, and a few people who love a piece of land can do a lot, but cutting in and maintaining an entire park trail system requires some organizational backbone.
Sometimes though, as in Jerry’s case, it does start with a few volunteers who just like the land and have the energy and dedication to do something with it.
Menomin Park and the Sadistic Century
Jerry has a special, understandable fondness for Lake Menomin Park, which is tucked behind the 3M facility between Lake Menomin and the interstate. To someone just driving by, the park may appear to be nothing more than a quiet picnic shelter on a hill, but like many good things, it takes more than a passing glance to appreciate. As Jerry puts it, “It takes a bit to walk down into the park and see the beauty of the lake and appreciate what a great location it is.” He should know. He helped build it.
In the early days, right around the time Jerry picked up a Gary Fisher Hi-Fi Pro Mountain Bike, local single track lovers in Menomonie, along with the help of a local bike shop, founded an informal group known as MAMBA (Menomonie Area Mountain Bike Association). They were the first to attempt to build trails around Lake Menomin. While this handful of volunteers could clear brush and cut short trail segments, they quickly realized that building sustainable, long-term multi-use systems required more scaffolding.
That is where CORBA was able to step in and help provide MAMBA with some essential resources. Jerry emphasizes the enormous effort it takes to get organizations like these running and self-maintaining, and did his part early on as a CORBA board member. As a registered non-profit, CORBA was able to provide that key non-profit status so the group could fundraise for the Menomin trails, present a unified voice to work with city, county, and parks departments, and share access to heavy trail equipment and machinery. He reminisces about getting to use a mini-excavator to build trails at Menomin. Spending hours learning how to operate it and use it to do significant trails, and feeling like a kid in a sand box the whole time.
Another of Jerry’s impactful contributions to local outdoor recreation was helping lead the Sadistic Century, a road cycling event held annually for 15 years in Dunn County. Like most grassroots events, the race evolved from an informal ride among friends into a community fundraiser supported by the Menomonie Rotary. Rather than simply spending event proceeds year-to-year, Jerry used any proceeds from the event to establish an endowment fund for CORBA at the local Community Foundation. Although Jerry is no longer involved with the event, it continues to be held with support from the Rotary, and new helming by the Valley Girls cycling group. And the legacy he chose to leave with the endowment fund was a key financial base that continued to support CORBA over the years.
A Foundation for the Future
Jerry knows that another key component of strong trail systems are future generations who value them, and so believes in the importance of developing not just community, but youth involvement.
Nearly 20 years ago, Jerry helped establish an annual Earth Day event at Menomin Park for middle school students. They rode to the park, volunteered, and helped build trails. The point wasn’t just to get young hands on the trails, but to show said young hands that the trails existed and people rode bikes on them. Jerry realized that youth programs like mountain bike groups help build confidence, and offer lifelong memories of positive outdoor experiences. Earth Day was about planting the seeds. “They gotta start somewhere, right?” he says. “If they don’t have trails in their backyards.”
Those early seed-planting efforts were the start of something important for many youth Jerry invested in. Kids who got their first taste of dirt work or mountain bike trails at Menomin Park went on to race in high school, compete for collegiate teams at UW-Stout, and road race nationally. Today, as CORBA works to expand its youth engagement and partners with regional youth programs, that early focus on getting “kids into the woods” remains a foundational piece of the organization’s mission.
Facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2025, Jerry’s continued presence, optimism, and care for the trails remain an inspiration. He is grateful to still be here and see his vision continue – in youth programs that instill a love of singletrack early on, and in local trails that belong to the community and are loved and maintained by groups like CORBA. Because the future of local trail systems is not in the dirt, but in the people, now and decades from now, who will still love the dirt and think it looks a little better shaped into a trail.